The Drifter
by Shellecah
Summary: Matt, Doc, Kitty, Chester and a maiden lady must save a wanderer's life.
1. Chapter 1

Too weary to realize the danger of hooves and wheels, the drifter slept the night in the street near the jail. No longer muddy yet soft and fragrant after yesterday's late summer storm, the dirt was more comfortable than the splintery walk.

Heading to the marshal's office from Ma Smalley's boarding house, Matt couldn't tell if the drifter was dead, wounded, sick or passed out drunk. Matt commonly found men sprawled on the streets in all such conditions, and when they were ragged and dirty like this one, folks passed them by.

Tenshi Prescott stumbled into Dodge on foot with no gun, knapsack or bedroll. He sat up in the dirt when Matt touched his shoulder, and said he was too thirsty to stand and move on. "And where will I move on to," he said in a cracked whisper. "I'm awful hungry. And a little sick, I think."

Matt went in the jailhouse and fetched him a dipper of water, and told him to come inside for breakfast. Chester fried eggs, spuds 'n onions and flatbread in fatback, and served it to Tenshi with coffee. He gobbled the food though it was too crispy and greasy, then talked about himself as he sipped another cup of coffee.

Thirty years old, he knew his parents died when he was a baby, and nothing else of them. He remembered only a Catholic orphans' home in Cincinnati, which he left at age sixteen and wandered ever since.

"I never worked," he said, when Matt asked him what sort of job he did. "The sisters at the home did the choring and cooking and such so we could devote our time to schooling and study, Mass and rosary and prayers. I lived off charity when I left the home. Except places where folks wouldn't take care of me. Then I almost died. That didn't happen much, but I'm poorly on account of it."

"Work's hard on a body, but dyin' of thirst an' hunger an' cold's a sight worse," said Chester. "You haveta choose which one's greater sufferin'."

"Clear enough, which is the best choice," said Matt.

"I don't think I _can_ work," said Tenshi. "Something's wrong with me. I can't do _any_thing."

"You've never tried, have you?" said Matt.

"No. I don't know how to. I can't."

"You could maybe marry a woman to take care of you, seein' as yer infirm," said Chester. "You could easy find one if you spiffed up some."

Though neither classically or ruggedly handsome and unkept as he was, people thought Tenshi attractive. Medium height and build and somewhat thin from inanition, he had large brown eyes and regular features with a short nose, curly waves of silky brown hair, and a clear beige complexion. He had a neat form and chiseled face, squarish but soft-edged, a bit wide across the cheekbones yet all in proportion. He looked much the same as he had at age ten, so much so that anyone who'd known him at that age and hadn't seen him since would recognize him. Matt could see why folks took care of Tenshi.

"What kind of work do you like?" said Matt. "You could learn, ya know."

"I don't like any kind of work," said Tenshi. "And I can't learn. I can never do it right. No one would have me working for them. Besides," he said when Matt regarded him critically, "I'm a bit ill. Just a speck fevered and sore all over, and my head aches."

The marshal knew what to do with Tenshi then. Matt would pay for him to get a bath and shave and haircut, buy him a pair of new pants, a shirt, vest and union suit and a new hat, and take him to Doc's. After Doc checked him out and treated him, Tenshi would be on his own. He'd either look for a job, or steal food and spend a day in jail when caught every fortnight or so, or starve and die of pneumonia when the cold weather set in.

Doc said Tenshi suffered exhaustion and feeble spirits, and had a low fever. Doc gave him headache powder, and said he could sleep on the lounge until he felt better. "Lay yourself down and rest," said Doc. "Best medicine for you."

"I usually don't sleep in the daytime, even when I'm sick," said Tenshi. "Cold beer chasing a whiskey shot would help me."

"You might be right about that, by golly," Doc agreed. "Not many ailments beer and whiskey won't help cure." Doc gave him thirty cents for the liquor, and as Tenshi's face was flushed and coated with a sweaty sheen, and he was a little unsteady on his feet, Doc walked him to the Long Branch and introduced him to Kitty, who gave him a free beer.

Tenshi paid for a whiskey and tossed it back, then slowly sipped his beer. He said he'd pay for a second beer with the money Doc gave him. Chester was there chatting with Kitty, so after drinking a beer, Doc told Chester Tenshi was poorly, and to walk him to Doc's office when he finished drinking. "Don't let him drink too much," said Doc. "Two beers and a whiskey is more than enough."

"You folks know any maiden ladies might wanna marry a poor stranger and provide for him?" said Tenshi, when he'd drunk half his second beer. As he and Chester and Kitty stood at the bar, Tenshi's knees buckled. Chester caught him before he fell, pulled him upright and steadied him.

"Let's help him sit down, Chester," said Kitty.

"You, please, Kitty," said Tenshi, wrapping his arms around her. She helped him to a table, and the three of them sat down.

"I maybe oughter walk ya to Doc's now, Tenshi," said Chester.

"After I finish my beer," said Tenshi. "I feel better sitting."

"You think Miss Mia Temple might take to Tenshi, Miss Kitty?" said Chester. Miss Mia was a pretty woman of twenty-eight years who boarded at Ma Smalley's. When Mia's parents died of typhoid, she inherited their rooming house in St. Louis, and not wishing to burden herself with the memories or work that came with the place, she moved to Dodge City, hiring a woman to run the rooming house and a solicitor to send her a monthly income from the proceeds. Mia's living was modest when the housekeeper and staff and solicitor were paid, but she was comfortable and didn't have to work. She read magazines and books, and occasionally worked embroidery when the notion took her.

"I don't know," said Kitty. "Mia's mighty particular when it comes to suitors. She has no beaus now 'cause she turns 'em all away."

"Maybe she'll like me," said Tenshi. "A lot of women do, even though I'm poor and idle and couldn't hitch up a buggy if you paid me two dollars to do it."

"My gracious," said Chester. "You _are_ helpless, ain't you."

"Mia might like him though, come to think of it," said Kitty. "She wants a good-looking man who's naturally clean, and mild-tempered."

"That's me," said Tenshi. "I don't need a bath but once a week, and I'm pleasing to look at all over naked." As Kitty had told him she owned the Long Branch, and she painted her face, he thought it not quite improper to talk that way to her. She was ladylike, but in her position could hardly be called a lady. Kitty looked amused, and Chester, although clearly her friend, did not warn Tenshi to hold his tongue in front of her.

"I'll introduce Mia to him while he's lying sick abed at Doc's," said Kitty. "So she'll more likely fall for him. He looks sick now. You best take him to Doc's, Chester."

Mia said she could provide for Tenshi cozily if she liked him. "He'll have to court me first, Kitty," she said. "I need time to decide if we're compatible. I can pay for his keep meanwhile, and for us to take buggy rides and such."

Kitty looked worried. "You might need to do the courtin' too, Mia," she said. "He seems the type who has a hard time making decisions, and taking the lead is out of the question. Not that he won't like you. I can't see him helping it when he sees you."

"It's just the truth," said Kitty, when Mia thanked her. Mia was one of the prettiest women in Dodge, though she wore no cosmetics. Average height with a graceful womanly form along slender lines, Mia had blue-gray eyes clear as diamonds, a delicate nose and full mouth, shiny, soft gold-brown hair, and flawless light-tan skin. She wore her hair in loose ringlets arranged in back of her head with fancy combs and hairpins, and tendrils framing her face.

"I don't want a man who hasn't the spirit to make overtures to me, though," said Mia. "If a man cares for a lady, he'll bestir himself to seek her hand at least."

"I don't think this man will," said Kitty, shaking her head. "You might have to propose too, Mia, and ask him if he loves you. Not that he'll know how love feels."

Mia laughed. "Kitty, what sort of little lump are you trying to infect me with?" she said. "I'm not _that _desperate to marry."

Kitty convinced Mia to visit Tenshi at Doc's, if only out of charity. "Then who knows?" said Kitty. "You might decide you want him."

Kitty didn't quite know why she wanted to help Tenshi. Not for Mia's sake, though Kitty thought Tenshi would make a good match for Mia. She'd likely love him while he'd quickly grow attached to her. Kitty didn't care much for matchmaking though, and Mia was just a friendly acquaintance, not a close friend.

Kitty wasn't one to go out of her way to help a man, unless the man was Matt, Chester, Doc or Sam, and like most of the townspeople, she had no use for drifters except when they bought drinks at the Long Branch. And Tenshi's attractiveness, though undeniable to Kitty, was not the sort she admired. She liked tall strong men like the marshal. She figured maybe Tenshi, though close to her age, stirred in her a mothering instinct she didn't know she had. It puzzled Kitty, this concern for an indolent drifter whose mind seemed aimless as his wanderings.

Like a burr in Matt's boot, Tenshi's presence in Dodge nagged at the marshal as well, but he resolved to do nothing more about it. If he took care of every idle muddled man who roamed into town, he'd have no money for his own needs and no time or vigor for his job.

Tenshi slept two nights at Doc's, then a couple of drovers fought over cards and shot each other at the Lady Gay, and Doc told Tenshi to leave, as the bed and lounge were needed for the wounded men. Tenshi's fever and headache were a little worse that morning, his bones hurt and his legs wobbled, but he didn't mention it to Doc, who busily tended the drovers. Doc glanced at Tenshi's drawn face, shadowed eyes and the bloom on his cheeks, gave him a bottle of laudanum, one of tonic and some headache powders in a canvas sack, and told him to get more bed rest.

"Where will you be," said Doc, while he chloroformed the bleeding trail hand on his table. "I'll come check you out when I get a chance."

"Don't worry about me, Doc," said Tenshi. "You've enough to do saving those fellows. I'll come by later." Doc felt worriment for Tenshi like a passing dark cloud, but had no time to dwell on it.

Tenshi thought of the angelic lady who'd visited him while he rested at Doc's. Kitty had introduced her as Mia Temple, and she sat by the lounge where Tenshi lay, sipped coffee and dazzled him with a smile every few minutes while he stared at her and said nothing.

He knew women expected suitors to talk to them, but he could think of nothing to say. Tenshi always had trouble ordering his thoughts, which at the best of times were elusive as fleeting shadows. His head had lately grown more befogged even before his illness, and he wondered what would become of him.

"There is something wrong with that poor man," Mia told Kitty. "I'm strangely drawn to him, but I can't possibly keep company with a lost little creature like that."

Tenshi carefully descended Doc's staircase, holding tight to the handrail. The new boots Matt Dillon had bought him felt stiff and clumsy, as he hadn't worn them in. He felt weak and shivery, and didn't want to take a tumble.

Miss Mia had told him she stayed at Ma Smalley's boarding house, near the end of Front Street. Tenshi would go there. He hoped Miss Mia was in her room. He thought he might die soon, and if he did, he wanted her face to be the last he saw before his departure. He thought about falling dead at her feet, then his belly growled and he realized he was hungry for lunch and not that sick after all. He hoped Mrs. Smalley would give him lunch.

Ma did feed Tenshi, and told Mia he was a sick, odd man with something missing. His appetite was good; he ate a generous helping of roast chicken and peas and a big wedge of cornbread with butter, which made him feel better. Mia figured he couldn't be too ill if he ate that well, and decided not to worry that he had no place to stay. Though harvest season approached, the days were still hot and sunny and the nights warm, so he wouldn't freeze.

Tenshi took two spoons of laudanum and one of tonic as he walked Front Street, then stopped at the jailhouse for a cup of water to mix the headache powder. Matt asked if he wanted to nap in one of the cells while the powder kicked in, but Tenshi said he'd sit in a chair outside the jail and doze in the sun.

Tenshi thought he must have brain fever, and the sun was the best treatment. He took off his hat and slouched in the chair, bathed in sunlight. He wouldn't bother Doc anymore, as doctors could do scarcely anything to cure it. A body either lived or died.

"Reckon Durant an' 'is boys'll rough him up an' run 'im outa town, Mr. Dillon?" said Chester, gazing through the window at Tenshi as he slept.

"Not if I can help it," said Matt, but Chester's question got him worrying. Tenshi wore the new clothes, hat and boots Matt purchased, was still clean from his bath three days ago, and had only traces of stubble on his chin, as he was smooth-skinned and didn't need to shave much. He no longer looked like a vagrant, and the marshal hoped Tenshi's appearance would shield him from Durant and his ruffians.

Rand Durant hated vagabonds. He was a land baron who lived in Dodge on the second floor of his office building. When Durant or his men saw a wanderer in town, they knocked him around and hounded him until he either found a job and a room or fled Dodge, unless the drifter was strongly built, forceful or a fast draw, in which case they left him alone.

Matt had repeatedly jailed Durant and his workers, and threatened to make them leave Dodge. They beat one drifter so badly, he spent a week at Doc's. Doc testified that the man suffered organ damage permanently affecting his health, and two of Durant's henchmen served time at the State Penitentiary. Although Durant swore he knew nothing about the beating, Matt told him that if any of his employees beat a man that way again, the marshal would see that Durant's business was shut down and he was thrown out of Dodge, if Matt himself had to torch Durant's building, tie him to his horse and drive him out.

Tenshi slept all afternoon and woke feeling worse. He wasn't hungry, not that any would share another supper with him. He sprinkled a packet of headache powder in his mouth and washed it down with a swig from the laudanum bottle. He'd find a shed with a dirt floor, easier on the bones than wood, lie down and stretch his throbbing muscles.

Mia Temple could not bar Tenshi from her thoughts, which made her restless. She set out shortly before dinner to see if he'd gone to Doc's. Though she tried to convince herself she wouldn't give a care if Tenshi wasn't sick, she knew her concern went beyond charity.

Illness was after all prevalent on the frontier, particularly on the prairie close to the South where the climate was humid and the weather changed drastically with the seasons. Despite the efforts of businessmen like Durant to scare them away, Dodge attracted wanderers, often malnourished and plagued by a host of ailments.

Were Tenshi a child, families would take him in or ship him to the nearest orphans' home with an empty bed. A woman could seek shelter at the parsonage while the pastor and congregation arranged for her to stay at a farm and help with the chores in exchange for board and food.

As Tenshi was a man of thirty, not an old-timer, the town expected him to make his way, sick or not. Many drifters were closer to death than life when they came to Dodge, and Doc could do just so much. The deceased found on the streets were as likely to have perished from disease as gunshot or beating, and when Tenshi sought shelter in a shed, he resigned himself to his fate, figuring the shed might be his last resting place before he was buried.

Except to notice that Tenshi had wakened, risen from his chair in front of the jail and walked away, Chester did not at the moment give him a thought. Chester was thinking of the menu board in front of Delmonico's, which advertised mutton and gravy with yams and butter and biscuits. He'd spent his weekly pay to the last cent, and when Matt saw him yawning and fidgeting and looking out the window, the marshal gave Chester forty cents for supper and told him to go to the Long Branch and ask Kitty if she would dine with them, and Matt would meet them at the saloon.

"Doc's the day long in 'is office, tendin' them two trail hands what shot each other over cards at the Lady Gay," said Chester. "One shot in the chest maybe died by now. Other 'un hit in the shoulder might still be alive. Doc ain't like to et since breakfast. Figger ah'll go ask 'im first if we kin bring 'im dinner. You comin' 'fore long, Mr. Dillon?"

"Soon as I finish cleaning my gun," said Matt.

Seeing Miss Mia walk by as he left the marshal's office, Chester said howdy and tipped his hat, and asked where she was headed. "To Doc's," she said. "I am curious what happened to Tenshi. He called on me at Ma Smalley's and ate a good lunch, but he wasn't well. Ma noticed it, too."

"He's been poorly since he come in three days ago," said Chester. "He slept a long spell on the chair there and now he's gone. Cain't say whereabouts."

"Why not?" said Mia.

"Why not what," said Chester.

"Why can't you tell me where Tenshi is."

"Well, Miss Mia, on account of I dunno. Um gone now ta ask Doc if he wants some supper from Delmonico's," said Chester. "Ah'm pleased if you walk 'long with me."

As Delmonico's was the most frequented restaurant in town, a number of folks headed there for supper. A divorced man, land baron Rand Durant disliked dining alone, so invited a company shareholder visiting from Tucson to eat with him. Though the visitor, known only by Kelso, was rumored to acquire his wealth through nefarious means, Durant figured that was no concern of his. Worth millions, Kelso contributed more to Durant Enterprises than any other shareholder. Durant habitually took a shortcut from his building through passages and across alleys to Delmonico's.

The days were still long in late summer, and the sun looked like a giant orange as it descended toward the west, washing Dodge City in fire-tinted light slashed by lengthy shadows. As the Long Branch was muggy and boisterous with drovers from the first cattle drives after a break during the hottest months, Kitty stepped out back of the saloon where the air was fresh, quieter and slightly cooler, and saw Durant and Kelso a few yards away.

Durant stopped abruptly and held up a hand to halt his companion. Neither man noticed Kitty, who watched them with interest. Durant's forceful reputation was well-known in town; he regularly patronized the Long Branch and she despised him.

"Did you hear that?" Durant said to Kelso. "Someone groaned. I think it came from that empty shed yonder. One of those confounded drifter bums most likely. They're pestilence in this town. Any shed not in use should be demolished for kindling. That'll discourage 'em so they'll take their worthless carcasses elsewhere."

A long sighing moan wafted through the warm air, sounding almost peaceful to Kitty's ears. "There it is again!" said Durant, glaring at the shed.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Blasted vagabonds," _Durant snarled, and flung the shed door open.

Kitty suddenly had to know if Tenshi was in the shed. She saw indigent wanderers in town every day; a lot looked sick like Tenshi, and most were friendless. Her nurturing urge was rarely so strong, and she wondered again why this particular drifter stirred it within her. Right now if felt like a mama bear. Chester now and then summoned Kitty's protective sense, Doc once or twice that she recollected, and on at least one occasion, Sam.

She rushed to the shed and shoved her way inside, past Durant and Kelso. Tenshi lay curled on the dirt floor, his new hat atop the sack containing the bottles of laudanum and tonic and the box of headache powders. He sat up and blinked at them, his eyes reddened and bleary.

Neither Durant or Kelso tipped his hat to Kitty, and Durant frowned at her. "Kitty Russell," Durant snapped. "Go back to your saloon, madam. We'll handle this." Kelso barked out a laugh.

"Why," said Kitty. "So you animals can rough him up?"

"Watch your tongue, woman," Kelso warned. "I don't even know you."

"You don't have to," Kitty bit out. "I know you're a beast. I can tell by the stink. I see your breed all the time in my business."

Kelso's craggy features contorted. He looked like a dog baring its fangs. He slapped Kitty hard, knocking her to the hard-packed dirt.

"You did it, not me, Kelso," said Durant. "That's the marshal's girl. She belongs to Dillon."

Tenshi climbed to his feet, swaying a little. He was weak and hot with fever, but the laudanum dulled the throbbing in his joints and muscles, and Doc's powder stilled the pounding in his head. He moved to Kitty and helped her stand. "Please leave, Kitty," he said. "It's not safe."

Her eyes darkened to the blue of a starless night sky, clinging to Tenshi while her head cleared, Kitty scowled at Kelso and then at Durant. She felt scorn for Durant, and though Kelso was a stranger to her, she hated him. He had eyes like mirrorless black iron.

"You got spunk, gal," said Kelso. "One smack won't break _your _spirit. Could be I have something else in mind. Strumpet like you might like it. What d'you think, Rand."

"That's lunatic, Kelso," said Durant. "I _told _you she's Dillon's woman!"

"You did, didn't you," said Kelso. He looked disappointed. "You're right. I'd be a fool to take Dillon's woman. Seen 'im bust up a fight at that opium den on the back street. Three fellas addled from the pipes came at him at once, and he knocked 'em all senseless and walked off without a scratch.

"Get your seductive hide outa here, temptress," Kelso grated at Kitty.

Hesitating, Kitty met Tenshi's fevered, gentle brown eyes. "Please leave, Kitty," he repeated.

She turned to go and her shoe bumped a rock in the doorway. Kelso was about six feet tall and solidly built, and Kitty guessed the rock to be about the size of his hand when it formed a fist.

Durant grabbed Tenshi's arm and pushed him toward a corner of the shed, and Durant and Kelso turned their backs to Kitty, their attention fixed on Tenshi. Kitty picked up the rock and flung it at Kelso's back, her pretty face twisting in fury. It hit him square between the shoulder blades with a satisfying thud. _"Oomph!" _he exclaimed, and staggered.

Kitty whirled and ran for her life, skirting the Long Branch. If she ran into the saloon and Kelso chased her, Sam would try to save her, and she didn't want to risk Sam getting shot. She'd run until she found Matt, and if Kelso caught her, she would fell him. She knew how to do it, and the beast deserved it.

Kitty raced to the Front Street walkway and collided with Chester, narrowly missing Mia Temple, who held Chester's arm. _"Miss Kitty," _said Chester.

Kitty's hair was disheveled and her dress soiled. Her left cheek was red and bore a palm mark. Chester saw a stranger with a face mad as a thundercloud and clenched fists running toward them, and quickly calculated the man had hit Miss Kitty, maybe tried to attack her.

A rush of hot anger surged through Chester. He stepped in front of the women and swung at Kelso, putting all his wrath behind the punch. Kelso stumbled back, his boots entangled and he fell on his hind end on the walk. His face turned crimson with rage and he swore, jumping up.

"_Stop him!" _Mia yelled at the spectators. _"He's after Kitty!" _

Two cowboys took hold of Kelso, each gripping an arm. He struggled to free himself, shouting curses. _"He hit her," _said Mia. _"He hit Kitty." _The cowboys eagerly thrashed Kelso with their fists.

A tall shadow darkened the fray, and Matt was among them. _"Mr. Dillon!" _said Chester. _"That there man hit Miss Kitty." _

"Break it up," Matt ordered, pulling the men apart. Kelso's face was dotted with knuckle marks and he had a gashed lip. Matt wanted to hit him, but he'd had enough so the marshal quelled the urge. "What's your name," said Matt.

"_Kelso," _the man spat.

"Listen, Kelso." Matt loomed over him so Kelso had to look up. Matt's nose was barely more than an inch from Kelso's. "You put your hands on Kitty or any woman in this town again, I'll beat you 'til you can't stand, and run you out of town. Understand?" Kelso nodded and tottered away.

"You alright, Kitty?" said Matt.

Kitty nodded. "I hurt him worse than he hurt me," she said with grim satisfaction. "He's got a rock-sized lump on his back about now." Matt grinned.

"_Good _for you, Kitty," said Mia. "That man was chasing Kitty, Marshal. No telling what he would have done if Chester hadn't stopped him. Chester punched him, knocked him on his— Knocked him down."

"Good work, Chester," said Matt.

"Warn't nowheres near what he deserves," said Chester.

"Matt," said Kitty, "Durant and Kelso caught Tenshi in that shed back of the Long Branch. That's what started all this. Whatever Durant did to Tenshi in there, I'm afraid it's done already."

Kitty went to her room to clean up, and Mia insisted on going to the shed with the marshal and Chester. Matt couldn't talk her out of it. "If Tenshi's sick and wounded, he needs a woman's touch, Marshal," said Mia. "He called on me at Ma Smalley's, so that makes him my beau if I want him."

Durant was not in the shed nor anywhere in sight. Tenshi lay curled on the dirt floor, his sack of medicinals with his new hat carefully balanced on top of the sack untouched. "Please," he mumbled, without looking up. "No more. Just let me die in peace." His voice held no self-pity, or any emotion except a reluctance to exert himself to speak the words he thought necessary for his tormentor to show a speck of sympathy and leave him alone.

Matt bent down beside Tenshi and turned him on his back. "Matt," said Tenshi. "He didn't hit me any. Durant. He was fixing to backhand me and I told him he didn't need to smack me around to get me to leave Dodge 'cause I'd be dead by sunup anyhow. On account of I'm real sick. So he backed away fast and let me be. I think he was scared of catching it. Brain fever or whatever I've got," Tenshi said.

Matt helped him stand. "Get him to Doc's, will you, Chester?" said the marshal. "I'm gonna pay Rand Durant a visit."

Chester supported Tenshi on one side, with Mia at his other side. His body felt hot and damp against hers, and she knew then with revelatory fervor that she wanted him. It mattered not that he lacked the spirit to propose to her; Mia would do the proposing.

A lot of ailments had no name, only vague generalizations like _brain fever, _as physicians—like blind men seeking light—labored to find sources, causes and cures. And although she figured Doc could not do much for Tenshi, Mia would nurse him, pour love and strength into him and make sure he lived, and provide for him.

If Tenshi was merely a loafer and not, as Mia suspected, chronically enervated and suffering a nameless affliction that prevented him from working, the thought of an indolent husband did not trouble Mia. Her own income was secure from the rooming house she inherited, and she hired people to do all the work. She could understand and sympathize with an idler, for she herself had no wish or need for employment.

As Chester and Mia with Tenshi between them made their halting way to Doc's, Mia looked down Front Street to the vast prairie and the huge fiery sun hovering at its far edge. Unmarried at twenty-eight years of age, she considered a blessing the chance meeting with this man who needed her, liked her and thought her pretty, this man she could love. She vanquished from her mind the tall, strong, prosperous stranger, sure, steady and perfect in face and form, whom she imagined from girlhood as her husband. It was providence; that was all. And from that moment, Mia committed her heart to Tenshi Prescott.

When Rand Durant answered Matt's knock at his room door and saw the marshal, Durant turned and rushed to his opened window. The window faced a street lined with Dodge City's notable businesses, including cattle buyers, attorneys and coal mine owners. Rand lived on the second level of Durant Enterprises, and seemed to consider jumping out of the window to escape the marshal. Much as he disliked the man, Matt thought it his duty to save Durant from breaking a leg, or his neck.

"_Durant," _said Matt, hurrying to the window. Durant's girlfriend, who worked at the Lone Star Dance Hall, had hung a flowery lace-trimmed curtain on a candy-pink background at the window, so she and Rand could share his bed in privacy. He swatted the curtain with both hands to move it aside as it flapped in the breeze.

"I told Kelso to go home to Tucson," Durant said breathlessly as Matt joined him at the window. "I was addled to take him on as shareholder. He's nothing but trouble. I tried to make him leave Miss Kitty alone. I had no part in that, Marshal. _None_."

The marshal believed him, as Durant had thus far limited his maleficence to plaguing paupers. Matt clamped a hand on Durant's shoulder, his grip steely. "Move away from the window, Rand."

"I'd rather risk a jump than fight you," said Durant. "I'm no match for you."

"Maybe Tenshi Prescott feels that way about you," said Matt. "You're a sight bigger than him, and a lot stronger and healthier."

Durant's handsome tanned features sagged in relief. "So this isn't about Miss Kitty," he said. "Who's Tenshi Prescott?"

"The man you cornered in the shed back of the Long Branch."

"That drifter? I didn't hurt him, Marshal. He said he was sick and I could see he was."

"You wanted to hit him," said Matt.

"Not when I saw he was ill. You think I'm a bully, Marshal. I'm only trying to clean the dregs out of this town. They're bad for business," said Durant.

"You're the one who needs to be cleaned out of town," said Matt. "Leave Prescott alone."

"Don't worry," Durant said. "I won't go anywhere near him. He's diseased like most of them. An infestation is what they are. You're the law here; why don't you run 'em out?"

"If I run anyone out, it'll be you, Durant."

_D _*** * * * * * * * * ***

Doc said Tenshi had brain fever with lethargy, which he would survive with care and a decent bed to recover in. The drover shot in the shoulder over cards at the Lady Gay was gone.

"Mr. Dillon aimed to jail them two trail hands when they was healed up 'nough, Doc," said Chester. "Witnesses says they agreed ta face off direct at the table, I s'pose on account of they was drunk, and both drawed to once. Who drawed first, nobody could say."

"I know Matt meant to arrest them," said Doc. "Fella hit in the shoulder mended much faster than I thought. I told 'im, 'Wait here; the marshal wants to see you.' He laughed and said 'No chance, Doc,' and left in a hurry. That was hours ago; my guess is he fled town. Don't know if Matt will bother tracking him."

If the drover ever returned to Dodge, Matt didn't know about it. With harvest season almost on them and the cattle drives coming through, he wouldn't risk leaving town to pursue a lone trail hand.

Chester and Mia helped Tenshi into Doc's bed, and Doc treated him with Mia attending as nurse. Doc mixed spirits of nitre and a lump of crushed sugar in warm water for fever and muscle pain, and as Tenshi's hands were trembly, Mia cupped her hands around his to steady them as he drank the medicine.

She lowered her head so her soft bright hair tendrils brushed his face, and said quietly in his ear, "I've somewhat to tell you that might help you get well and strong."

"I'll feel much better if you kiss me," said Tenshi. "I don't want to pass my sickness to you, though."

"I don't think it's contagious," said Doc. "But whatever you came down with before this most likely was."

"I just got over the quinsy," said Tenshi. "I been tuckered ever since and my head muddled up more than usual. I suppose I was born foggy-headed. That never stops."

"The quinsy planted its seeds inside you after it ran its course. The seeds mutated and caused brain fever," Doc explained.

"Then it's alright to kiss you, Tenshi," said Mia. And she did. "Kitty said you're looking to marry a lady willing to provide for you," she said. "I will."

Tenshi smiled. "Do you want to?" said Mia, returning his smile.

"Yes please," he said, and she kissed him again.

His face and body covered by a sheet, the other drover from the Lady Gay gunfight lay on Doc's table. "It's a mercy," said Doc. "The bullet pierced his lung and blood filled his chest. He was fighting for just a little breath. Undertaker's men will be by right along.

"They're busy tonight with folks still eating that spoiled sausage old man Sutter sold around town," Doc said. "You'd think people would know not to eat green sausage."

"Old man Sutter oughtn't butcher at his age," said Chester. "He's more'n a hundred years if he's a day. That hog he kilt was nigh as old. Hogs is more worms than flesh an' entrails when they gits that old. Sutter dint eat none a thet hog hisself, why's he passin' it off as vittles?"

"He said he was too fond of it to eat it," said Doc.

"Well if he liked it so much, why'd he kill it," said Chester. "Know what, Doc? I calculate Sutter jest got tired of that hog, feedin' and cleanin' up after it."

"You might have a point there, Chester," said Doc.

"Wahl," said Chester, "reckon I best git maself to the Long Branch an' meet up with Mr. Dillon and Miss Kitty 'fore they go to dinner without me. You want I should carry you back a plate, Doc?"

"No thanks," said Doc. "I'll just have coffee tonight. If I ate anything, it might taste like chitterlings. Folks who die from eating that sausage smell of rotting pork even when the bodies are fresh."

"Oh, that is sickening," said Chester. "That's a turr'ble shame." He tugged his earlobe. "Thank ah got a nit in thar somewheres." He slapped at his ear.

"Stop that, Chester," Doc ordered. "You'll give yourself hearing loss. There's a better way." Doc wet a clean cloth with hot water from the coffee pot, twisted the cloth into a spear, probed Chester's ear and extracted a black dot. "Still alive, looks like," Doc observed.

He lifted the stove lid and dropped the cloth in the fire. "Don't want these things breeding," said Doc.

END


End file.
